The Silent Saboteurs: Unmasking Our Own Oral Spirochetes As The Key To Saving TRILLIONS in Health Care Costs
-by William D. Nordquist, BS, DMD, MS
& David J. Krutchkoff, DDS, MS -
Posted by Razzle (Member # 30398) on :
Xylitol products are supposed to help with dry mouth - there is xylitol gum, toothpaste, candies...
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
lymegal, I do not believe it is the meds that are giving you dry mouth. I believe that it is the diseases.
I had terrible dry mouth, dry eye, and other dry mucous membranes when I had lyme, babs, and bart.
I had to get help from the dentist, the dry mouth was so bad. This was before I knew I had lyme. I was not on any meds.
I had to see the eye doctor for the dry eye. And, the gyn for other dryness. This was all before my diagnosis.
The Biotene and whatever didn't really help me. What helped me was good lyme and coinfection treatment. All of my symptoms reversed with good lyme treatment (but not with lousy lyme treatment).
So, just want you to know that many on this board suffered with the same symptoms.
I used to suck on a sugar-free hard candy to go to sleep at night. It was nearly impossible to go to sleep feeling that I was dying of thirst, tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
And, all day long, wherever I went, I had my bottle of water. I sipped water all day long. It used to be said on LymeNet that that was how you could tell a lyme patient--they were never without their bottle of water. In the doctor's office, everywhere.
So, check for side effects of the meds you are taking and you will see that dry mouth is not among them. If you take some allergy or sinus meds, they may truly dry out the mouth, but not antibiotics.
Get the very best lyme doctor you can afford and hopefully this symptom will go away quickly before any more teeth are affected.
Posted by lymegal23 (Member # 28573) on :
Thanks alot TF. I really appreciate your help!
you said you had to go to the GYN. what kind of dryness were you experiencing with that? PM if you need to if its personal stuff. I think I might have similar stuff going on too....
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Extreme vaginal atrophy. Couldn't stand anything to touch my crotch due to dryness. Couldn't wear jeans or pants or pantyhose, etc. due to extreme dryness.
An internal exam had me on pain medication for a week or 2 because you can't stand anything going into a dry vagina--it tears the dried out, non-elastic skin in there.
Couldn't cross my legs without pain from dryness. By the end of the day, the friction from walking had me sore in my crotch--all due to dryness.
Had to insert estrogen into the vagina for nearly a year to somewhat get rid of this symptom. Plus, I took hormone replacement orally also.
I did not get my normal vaginal lubrication back until I got good lyme disease treatment. (Lousy lyme treatment didn't do it.) It was very obvious to me when my problem reversed itself and I was again normal.
I also got back normal saliva production in my mouth (so I no longer had dry mouth, bad breath, etc.) and normal tear production in my eyes (so I no longer needed the operation to plug my tear drains, no longer needed to continually put eye drops in my eyes, no longer had burning eyes).
I hope you can see how all of this is related. It is the same problem throughout the body--dry mucous membranes.
I am posting this publicly for all the women to realize how lyme can dry out ALL of your mucous membranes. In mouth, eyes, digestive tract, vagina, etc. There are terrible repercussions when your mucous membranes dry out. That is the power of lyme disease.
This disease was a nightmare for me, and part of it was how it can dry out all mucous membranes.
Posted by pab (Member # 904) on :
I use Spry cinnamon gum. I get it at Vitacost.
Posted by Dogsandcats (Member # 28544) on :
I used spry gum during the day
Posted by Rumigirl (Member # 15091) on :
TF, how long did you have the dryness problem? It sounds like for a year.
I've had it for 36 years; by now I think that the damage to the salivary glands, etc. is permanent. I am losing my teeth at an alarming rate as a result. It is requiring an unreal amount of dental work to deal with the damage.
And through it all, I have run into way too many treatment obstacles, and drs refusing to treat me, etc.
There are two suggestions, besides getting top notch treatment. One simple one I've been told by a dentist, who treats people with medical problems causing dental problems, is to use olive oil on your tissues and teeth. That stays, whereas the Biotene, etc. doesn't last at all.
The other one is a line of products for the mouth called Xerostom. It's made in Spain and is available online from Europe. It has an oil base, but also has Xylitol and other ingredients. There's a toothpaste, mouthwash, a gel, gum, sugarless candies; you can chose which products to try/use.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
I believe I had it for 5 years. That's how long I had the false menopause and was on hormone replacement before good lyme treatment got me back to being pre-menopausal again.
I believe all the dryness (eyes, mouth, etc.) started at the same time, but I can't be sure.
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Look into taking Hyaluronic Acid for dry eyes and dry mouth.
You can google for hyaluronic acid and dry mouth.
Posted by Rumigirl (Member # 15091) on :
Carol, I take hyaluronic acid, but it hasn't helped this at all. That said, I believe that I have permanent damage to my salivary glands by now. So in my case, there may only be so much good anything can do now. Most people haven't had it as long as I have.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
My dentist had told me to use Biotene for the dry mouth too. I got both the toothpaste and the mouthwash.
Neither really worked for me either, so I'd try one of the other options listed from the others. Good luck.
Cathy
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
i started getting cavities for the first time in about 20 yrs about 10 yrs after being dx with lyme
nothing my dentist did helped...he said it was menopause but my gyn didnt agree
i went to a biological dentist to get my amalgams out. he told me to stop using regular toothpaste the regular dentists reccommend and to stop flouride
he told me to brush my teeth with sea salt and sometimes baking soda if i wanted them whiter.
then he said use xlitol products
i have done that for 4 yrs now and not had one more cavity. they just stopped. i dont think it had anything to do with removing the amalgams cuz i only had a few
remember xlitol is very poisonis to dogs tho
Posted by hadlyme (Member # 6364) on :
There are other dry mouth meds one can get from their dentist. GC America has a new one on the market. But only license dentists can buy it and give or sell to patients.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I have Sjogren's but my mouth is not that bad, mainly the eyes and body.
I haven't used fluoride in 45 yrs. So maybe that really is key. I use NOW brand toothpaste with Xylitol.